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Daily Caller denies report it paid for women to lie about Menendez

By Mackenzie Weinger

03/22/13 01:29 PM EDT

The Washington Post reported on Friday a local lawyer told Dominican investigators that a man who claimed to work for the Daily Caller said he had been offered $5,000 to find women who would lie and say they had sex for money with Sen. Bob Menendez, an allegation the website called “categorically false.”

Jose Antonio Polanco, a district attorney for the La Romana region, said that Dominican lawyer Melanio Figueroa told police he was approached by “Carlos,” a foreigner who said he worked for the Daily Caller, last fall. Polanco said the man gave Figueroa a $2,000 advance to arrange staged interviews with the women about the New Jersey Democrat. The Post reported it could not independently confirm the information from the Dominican authorities.

The Daily Caller said in a statement that the allegations made by Figueroa “are categorically false.”

“At no point did any money change hands between The Daily Caller and any sources or individuals connected with this investigation, nor did anyone named Carlos travel to the Dominican Republic on behalf of The Daily Caller. As recently as two weeks ago, Figueroa was on record with another news outlet as saying the women he represented were telling the truth about their initial allegations against Sen. Mendendez.”

Daily Caller editor Tucker Carlson told POLITICO in an email that “the charges are completely false and crazy, more evidence that there are people in the DR under pressure to change their stories about Menendez.”

Carlson added in a statement to the Post that “this claim is a lie.”

“It seems clear to me Figueroa is under pressure to change his story,” he said in a statement. “What I know for certain is this claim is a lie. The Daily Caller never paid anyone, was never asked to pay anyone and of course never would pay anyone for this story.”

Menenedez has denied the prostitution claims and the Post has previously reported that the FBI could find no evidence supporting the prostitution claims.